The surface area of construction permits in Lebanon, which reflects the level of future supply in the real estate sector rose to 1,158,294 sqm during the month of April 2021, up from 1,002,178 sqm in March. Similarly on a cumulative basis, the surface area of construction permits soared by 381.38% y-o-y to 2,359,364 sqm in the first four months of the current year, compared to 490,126 sqm during the same period last year.

As far as the geographical distribution of construction permits is concerned, the Mount Lebanon region continued to control the lion’s share of the total surface area of issued permits (890,362 sqm <37.74%>), followed by the South (671,956 sqm <28.48%>), Nabatieh (369,072 sqm <15.64%), Bekaa (364,654 sqm <15.46%>), and Beirut (27,256 sqm <1.16%>) regions. It is worth noting that figures for the North governorate are underestimated since they exclude permits issued by the North Order of Engineers.

The North governorate enjoyed the highest exploitation coefficient, which stood at 1,002 sqm per construction permit YTD April 2021, followed by the Bekaa (930 sqm/transaction), Mount Lebanon (643 sqm/transaction), South (477 sqm/transaction), Beirut (454 sqm/transaction), and Nabatieh (452 sqm/transaction) governorates.